Executive summary

This National Responsible Gambling Strategy was produced by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board following a public consultation. It covers all forms of gambling and should set the agenda for a wide range of organisations - gambling operators, regulators, commissioning organisations, government, trade bodies, treatment providers and a number of other public agencies.

The overarching aim is to minimise gambling-related harm. Gambling-related harm goes wider than the harm experienced by those identified as problem gamblers by existing screening tools. It can also affect the families of gamblers, their employers, their communities and society more widely.

The strategy sets out a vision of what a desirable outcome would look like. Achieving the vision will be a significant challenge, requiring expertise, resources and commitment from a diverse range of stakeholders.

It will also require a willingness to take action on the basis of what is known, or can reasonably be inferred. Lack of complete information should not be allowed to be a barrier to progress.

In recent years some positive steps have been taken to tackle gambling-related problems. This strategy is designed to build on those foundations.

The strategy does not address the current issue of maximum stake size on machine play. We will be providing our advice on that in the context of the forthcoming triennial review of stakes and prizes, expected shortly.

Priority objectives

The strategy has five priority objectives:

To develop more effective harm minimisation interventions, in particular through further experimentation and piloting of different approaches.

To improve treatment through better use of knowledge, data and evaluation.

To build a culture where new initiatives are routinely evaluated and findings put into practice.

To encourage a wider range of organisations in the public and private sector to accept their responsibility to tackle gambling-related harm.

To progress towards a better understanding of gambling-related harm and its measurement.

Priority actions

To achieve these objectives, the following 12 priority actions should be taken:

Priority action 1: Understanding and measuring harmThis action involves research intended to create a more sophisticated understanding of the nature of harm associated with gambling. Success would help move away from more limited measurement tools, such as simply counting the number of problem gamblers.

Priority action 3: Consolidating a culture of evaluationEvaluation helps improve understanding of what works, and in what circumstances. This action is designed to build on the progress that has been made to evaluate initiatives and use the findings to target the future use of resources.

Priority action 5: Improving methods of identifying harmful play This action calls for continued work to develop methods of identifying patterns of play that are linked to harm. Such methods include algorithms relating to remote or machine-based gambling, as well as other approaches such as training for staff to identify and respond to relevant behavioural patterns.

Priority action 6: Piloting interventions It is important that the gambling industry continues to develop and improve ways of intervening when harmful play is identified. This action requires well-designed interventions to be piloted and evaluated. Approaches could include customer interaction, messaging or debit card blocking.

Priority action 7: Self-exclusionThe establishment of multi-operator self-exclusion schemes is under way. A number of sector specific schemes are already launched or in development. This action requires the completion of this work and increasing the levels of awareness of self-exclusion schemes among gamblers, advice agencies and others so as to improve effectiveness.